Legacy
by sabrielfaerie
Summary: When Harry dies defeating Voldemort Seamus finds himself guardian of his six month old daughter
1. Chapter 1

We all have a legacy, something that helps shape who we are, a reputation that precedes us without knowing how it's destroying us. Most of us hold our legacies in our last name, Potter, Malfoy, Longbottom. But I alone of my friends hold my legacy in something deeper than a name, deeper than the color of my hair or the occupation of my grandfather. I did not die to avenge my father, nor to save mankind. I existed solely to pick up the pieces and oh, what pieces they were.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~REAL LIFE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
11.37, November 29th  
  
"Erm, is this the Finnigan residence?"  
  
The med student stood in front of the sandy-haired man, holding a tiny bundle to her chest.  
  
"Depends," The young man said. "On what you want."  
  
The student blinked slowly and looked from the bundle in her arms to the young man. He was very handsome, with hazel eyes and short spiky hair. He was wearing big work boots and a thick, oiled green jacket. He raised one eyebrow. "Well?"  
  
She shoved the bundle into his arms; the neatly stacked papers she had been carrying along with it fell out in a swirling heap on the ground. She turned and ran, leaving the young man confused on his doorstep. And then the bundle started to cry.  
  
"Oh no! Oh no you can NOT do this to me!" But the student had already disappeared and there was nothing Seamus could do but take the child inside and read what the papers said.  
  
29 November  
  
Mr FINNIGAN,  
  
In the will of MR HARRY POTTER [d. 18 November] you were stated as the guardian of his child, LENA ADRIANNA, in the event of his death. We ask that you fill out the necessary forms and return them to Ministry headquarters by no later than 1 December. If there is a conflict with your guardianship we ask that you report to Ministry welfare services and have the child documented as a ward of the state.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Hufflebert Haggins  
  
Child Welfare  
  
Seamus folded the letter in two and ripped it in half. "If there is a conflict with your guardianship please report to Ministry welfare services...Jesus. Well, I guess there's nothing for it. Come on Lena, Guess we'll be takin' you down to London."  
  
He picked up the baby and Apparated to the Wizarding Welfare building.  
  
"Can I help you sir?" A fat frizzy haired woman (HI! MY NAME IS BARB plastered on a tag on her robes) spoke to him in a nasally voice.  
  
"Um, yes. You see a friend of mine died a coupla weeks ago and left his child in my care but I can't take care of a baby-"  
  
"Name?"  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"The child's name, sir. What is the child's name?"  
  
"Oh, um, Lena?"  
  
"Okay sir, just follow me back here and I'll get you to sign the necessary forms and you can go."  
  
"Oh. Um, okay." Seamus followed the woman behind the counter and through a set of glass doors. He looked and was shocked to see perhaps thirty children playing under the supervision of a woman who looked as enthusiastic as HI! MY NAME IS BARB and as competent as the med student who had dropped the child off. "Is this the day centre?" he asked warily.  
  
"The day centre? You must be joking." HI! MY NAME IS BARB said.  
  
"The children stay here until they are either adopted or old enough to go to school." The second woman explained.  
  
Seamus looked at the bundle in his arms. Cute as it was, he knew that with the way people had been dying in this war, combined with the amount of babies that would be born in roughly nine months due to the celebrations of Voldemorts defeat, this baby would remain here until it was ready for school.  
  
"You know, I think I'm going to take her home for a bit, see what my fiancée wants todo." He said, backing towards the door.  
  
"Are you sure?" HI! MY NAME IS BARB asked. "There's plenty of room here."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I'm, uh, pretty sure. You know, I should get her home. She seems hungry."  
  
He bolted outt he door and Apparated back to his house. 


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes legacies are handed down, other times they remain with a single person. My legacy would not be handed down, it would remain at my side, changing and growing but never leaving.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~REAL LIFE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Seamus stood in the front room of his massive house and blinked several times. It occurred to him that he had absolutely no idea what to do with a baby. He lifted up the reciever on the telephone, the house had been left to him by his father and it was furnished with both Muggle and magical artifacts. He dialed Hannah Abbott's number and waited for her to pick up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Uh, hi. Hannah."  
  
"Seamus?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. I, uh, I kind of need your help here."  
  
"I'll be there in ten."  
  
He paced in the front foyer with the baby in his arms until Hannah arrived.  
  
"I got here as fast as I could, what is it-OH MY GOD! SEAMUS IS THAT A CHILD?"  
  
"Well, yes."  
  
"Is it yours?"  
  
"In a manner of speaking, yes."  
  
"What do you mean? Is the bay yours or isn't it?"  
  
"Well, it's Harry's baby, but he's quite dead and it turns out I'm the guardian of it."  
  
"Her."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The baby is a her, not an it."  
  
"Right. Hannah, I need help. Badly."  
  
"Right. Okay. First of all, we need to get this house baby-proofed, I can take my wand to it, get it done in no time. Next, you need to get her clothes, nappies, a crib-"  
  
"I don't believe this, bloody hell. Shouldn't they have sent this stuff with her?"  
  
"They should have but they didn't, you have enough money to toss around anyway."  
  
"Oh look, we have some digestives for her to eat..."  
  
"Seamus no! She's only six months old, you can't give a six month old digestives or biscuits, or anything solid!"  
  
"This is going to be a long haul, isn't it?" 


	3. Chapter 3

In a world where there are two kinds of people, those who leave legacies and those who receive them, it is hard to tell which you will be until the very end. I, unfortunately, did not realise this for a rather embarassing amount of time.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~REAL LIFE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Okay, you've got your house baby-proofed, you have a room set up for her and you have formul and nappies. I guess I had better be going."  
  
"What? Hannah, you can't just leave! I have a baby here."  
  
"What's that got to do with the price of eggs?"  
  
"Everything!"  
  
Hannah sighed and sat down. She looked levelly at Seamus. "Look, I can take Lena, I'll have to talk it over with Ernie, but I'm sure-" she trailed off and looked at Seamus.  
  
He looked at the baby, sitting in her pram next to his chair, not a care in the world. "Baby-snatcher." He said.  
  
Hannah rolled her eyes and leaned across the table. "Can you take care of a baby?" sha asked seriously.  
  
"Well Harry could."  
  
"Harry had Susan to help until three months ago. You won't have anyone. Seamus, your mother is dead, you have no brothers or sisters, you haven't got a girlfriend and I'm expecting a child myself soon."  
  
Seamus looked at her suddenly and then turned back to the baby. "Give me a day, aye?"  
  
"Aye." And she left.  
  
Seamus looked at the little girl. "You deserve a little brother or sister. And a mum and a dad. And grandparents."  
  
Tears brimmed in his eyes, and he brushed them roughly away. He was angry with himself, so angry. Harry had asked him to do one thing for him, take care of his baby and he couldn't even do that.  
  
Hannah and Ernie came to pick Lena up the next day. They brought her tiny frocks home, her biddy little jumpers and tiny lace-up trainers. They told Seamus he was welcome to visit all he wanted but this didn't keep him for collapsing in the doorway as they left, sobbing, for the first time since his mothers death almost ten years before.  
  
True to their word Hannah and Ernie allowed Seamus to visit little Lena as often as he liked, but what he really wanted was to take her home. 


	4. Chapter 4

Like the great-nephew of a deceased millionaire might not realise his bounty for almost a decade, my legacy was ten years old, and growing, by the time it was returned to me.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~REAL LIFE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Uncle Seamus! Uncle Seamus, can I go home with you tonight?" Lena ran up to Seamus, down on the dirt road. Her long brown hair flew around her face and her tiny arms were around his neck the moment she was near enough to him to fly up to him.  
  
"Why baby? Wassamatter?"  
  
Lena looped her arms around his neck and pulled him down until he was level with her. She glanced at Hannah and Ernie out on the porch with their three children and gestured for him to come closer. "I don't think Uncle Ernie likes me very much. I don't think he wants me to live here any more."  
  
Seamus straightened immediately and glared at Ernie. "Why?" he asked, livid.  
  
"He just forgets about me sometimes, that's all."  
  
Seamus sighed and looked at the little girl. "Nobody deserves to be forgotten." He said, more to himself than Lena. He took her hand and walked up to the house.  
  
They chatted for a while and then sent the children to bed. Lena squeezed Seamus extra hard as she went up to her bedroom.  
  
Hannah poured Seamus a cup of tea and they sat and talked for a while. "You know, I was thinking, I'd like to take Lena home with me."  
  
"For the weekend?" Hannah asked.  
  
"No, I'd like her to come live with me again."  
  
Ernie looked visibly relieved but Hannah seemed quite surprised. "Well Seamus, you can't take care of a little girl."  
  
"Why the hell not? She's ten years old, s'not like she's a baby anymore."  
  
"But still, if she was a boy, then maybe. But she needs a mother. Ernie, a little help here?"  
  
"What? Oh yeah, well, I think Seamus is right. To tell you the truth I think it would be the best. He is Lena's legal guardian and this house is getting kind of cramped, what with six people in it and all..."  
  
Hannah sighed. "Only if it's what Lena wants."  
  
"You doubt that she'll want to live with me?"  
  
Hannah sighed again and was about to say something when her oldest son, Kellen, walked into the room.  
  
"Mum, this house is too small. I want my own room, I can't sleep. I hate Donny, his snoring."  
  
Hannah glanced at Seamus who raised his arms and said nothing. "You go lie down in Mum and Dad's room. We'll move you when we come upstairs. Good night Kellen." She slumped back in her chair.  
  
"Still having doubts?"  
  
"Shut up Finnigan. We should just trade houses, is all."  
  
Seamus shook his head. "I need my baby back, that's all."  
  
The next week came to collect Lena. She was sitting with her stuff on the porch, perched on suitcases that were bigger than her. Almost all the toys she owned, and indeed that the other children owned had come from Seamus. Hannah and Ernie, barely twenty-nine with four children to look after, didn't quite have money to throw around.  
  
That morning Hannah and Lena had decided what they would be doing and Hannah had looked at her and said, "If you ever need anything, a Mum or a hug or anyhing at all, you remember I'm right here."  
  
"I know, Auntie. Thank you very much for everything you've done." The little girl said in her grown-up voice.  
  
Hannah smiled and turned away to brush her tears off her face. Lena, with her dark hair and tiny, lithe frame looked favoured her father looks-wise, but her manner reminded Hannah of no one but her mother, Hannah's long ago best-friend, Susan Bones. She turned back and faced Lena, smiling the hard, bright smile she had long ago adopted for job interviews and particularily nasty Mondays.  
  
"Ready to go darling?"  
  
"Yes Uncle Seamus."  
  
He smiled. "Okay sweetie, go wait for me down in the trees there, we can go in a minute. I just need to talk to your Auntie for a minute."  
  
He turned to Hannah who had her arms crossed over her chest, clutching a tissue and rubbing her nose. "Come on love, cheer up. You can come visit everyday."  
  
"I have a job Finnigan." Hannah replied darkly.  
  
"See! You still have it in you to be miserable to me." Seamus said cheerfully. Then his smile softened and he put his arms around Hannah. "You can come visit any time you like, and I'll bring her around for dinner and to see Maddy, don't worry pet, it'll work out."  
  
Hannah nodded but she didn't trust herself to speak. She turned instead and went back inside with the children. Seamus walked down to the wooded area behind the house and found Lena waiting patiently for him. He took her hand and they Apparated home. 


End file.
